Anatomy of a Fall review – Trial by contemplation

If you’d been keeping an eye on the international film festival circuit, you probably wouldn’t have been surprised to see dual language courtroom drama Anatomy of a Fall among this year’s top Oscar contenders. Debuting at Cannes 2023, Justine Triet’s directed and co-written film won the festival’s highest accolade, the Palme d’Or, and proceeded to rack up nominations and wins from various awards bodies and critics’ societies from that point out – typically for Best Director, Best Actress, Best Original Screenplay, Best Editing and Best Film.

Still, Anatomy of a Fall felt like something of a dark horse when the 2024 Academy Award nominations were announced. The film was in the running for all five categories mentioned above, ultimately winning for its writing. Seeing that Best Original Screenplay has consistently been given to some of the boldest and most resonant movies of all time, your interest may be piqued to finally watch Anatomy of a Fall. However, apart for screening at The European Film Festival in October last year, at least in South Africa, the Oscar winner never received a wider release. That changed when it made a lowkey debut on Prime Video in late March.

Now easily accessible for cinephiles spoiled for choice on the daily, the question is whether Anatomy of a Fall is worth your time? Has it been overhyped or is it worthy of all its acclaim?

Before that, though, viewers should be aware of one thing. Similar to Everything Everywhere All At Once, Anatomy of a Fall is hurt by Prime Video’s blunt subtitling system. If you watched the film at the cinema (in English-speaking nations), only the non-English would have been titled. At home, there is no nuance. If you need the French dialogue translated, you’re forced to have the film’s substantial English use captioned as well, which some may find distracting.

Onto the film itself though. Anatomy of a Fall is long at 152 minutes, but always accessible. It features just enough electric moments to revive flagging interest and motivate audiences to stick through to the end credits. Events kick off with the death of university lecturer Samuel Maleski (Samuel Theis) who plummets from the top floor of the family’s fixer-upper chalet in the French Alps. The blame falls on Samuel’s wife, German novelist Sandra Voyter (Sandra Hüller), who is put on trial for murder. The accusation puts extra strain on Samuel and Sandra’s visually impaired 11-year-old son Daniel (Milo Machado-Graner) who found the body and is a key witness as to his parents’ relationship.

Anatomy of a Fall is satisfying enough as a mystery, but made truly special by the way the courtroom debates slice open and lay bare a family in quiet, seething crisis. The film may be typically quiet and slow – probably too subdued for some – but it’s also raw and utterly convincing, featuring arguably the most impactful on-screen depiction of a long-time couple’s argument, well, ever. This scene alone is worth watching for its escalating emotional potency, as toxic resentment seeps into the initially calm discussion.

What’s magical about the script, and acting, is that Anatomy of a Fall never feels bogged down or bleak. You don’t need to psychologically steel yourself going into the film as you would with, say, Marriage Story. The Oscar winner constantly plays in the shades of grey that, if you are prepared to admit it in our split world, are our actual reality.

On that note, Anatomy of a Fall is thematically dense. The need to divorce artistic creation and the artist. Life as being far too complex to be accurately reflected in a single moment. Women unfairly being held responsible for men’s self-destructive actions. All of these, and more, feature in Anatomy of a Fall, although Triet’s handling of these topics is more like the attorneys in her film – posing the question, touching on matters but otherwise leaving the audience, like the on-screen judge and jury, to reach their own verdict. This is in stark contrast to something like, say, Men, where viewers were clubbed over the head with the subject and intended response.

Helping to make Anatomy of a Fall more impactful are its performances, which are excellent across the board. The keystone of the movie, and worth every single piece of praise, though is Hüller. Her Sandra is unapologetic and has an answer for everything but she’s completely understandable (I’m not going to use “likeable”). Master manipulator, or woman punished during a tragedy for her combination of frankness, uncompromising drive and outsider status? Again, Triet and Hüller present both possibilities but then step back, hands raised, leaving it up to us to assign blame – or not.

After an agonisingly tense and deliberately grating opening, Anatomy of a Fall does fizzle out a bit by the end. The film certainly won’t be to everyone’s tastes but it’s as mainstream as this kind of thing gets – delivering a contemplative, sharply written drama that is never art-film aloof.

Watch Anatomy of a Fall now on Prime Video.